Abramoff is now two for two. What a way to earn frequent flier miles. Meanwhile, Birnbaum and Balz report on the fallout in Washington from Abramoff's plea deal yesterday:

At a minimum, yesterday's developments put both sides of the lawmaker-lobbyist relationship on notice that some of the wilder customs of recent years -- lubricated with money, entertainment and access -- carry higher risks. In the post-Abramoff era, what once was accepted as business as usual may be seen as questionable or worse.

"In the short run, members of Congress will get allergic to lobbyists," said former representative Vin Weber (R-Minn.), now a lobbyist for Clark & Weinstock. "They'll be nervous about taking calls and holding meetings, to say nothing of lavish trips to Scotland. Those will be out. For a period of time now, members of Congress will be concerned about even legitimate contact with the lobbying world."

Good. Members of Congress should be wary of dealing with lobbyists - and not just because the hammer is finally dropping on the behavior of one who, from the looks of things, went well beyond the bounds of the law.

There's a simple lesson here: if you don't change the culture in Washington, eventually the culture in Washington is going to change you.  That's why the K Street project was fundamentally flawed from the beginning. Republicans had an opportunity to change the culture in Washington starting back in 1994, and for a while they did use the momentum from that election to make some important alterations in the way things worked inside the beltway. But as time went by and some Republicans became more entrenched and more comfortable with their hands on the levers of power in Washington, they let the nature of business as usual in Washington change them, instead of the other way around.